We want to inject these into a living insect. They come in a solution that includes a surfactant that will harm/kill the insect after injection and they appear to aggregate heavily when the surfactant is removed. Is there any way to treat them that will help keep them mono-disperse and will not have them in a buffer that will kill the insect?
You want to maintain a uniform distribution of modified polystyrene nano-particles in the body of the insect, and not to increase the solubility. Do not use cationic surfactant to stabilize. These surfactants are more toxic. Inject the suspension into the body of the insect slowly over time. The term solubility means that you want to distribute the polystyrene molecules that make up the nanoparticles.
Dear Jonas,
I agree with Dr. Mirgorod and would like to add one additional suggestion. Raise the pH of the suspension a little so that the carboxyls remain ionized (probably pH 7.5 would be sufficient). With negative charges on its surface, the particles will repel and tend to remain in suspension.
- Badges
- Science topic